While Western leaders continue to speculate over a possible compromise peace between Moscow and Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin makes no secret of the fact that he remains fully committed to the so-called “denazification” of Ukraine. Speaking at Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in early June, Putin once again expressed confidence that all of Russia’s war aims in Ukraine would be achieved, including the “denazification” of the country.
Putin’s determination to “denazify” Ukraine makes a mockery of efforts to portray the Russian invasion as a mere land grab. It also helps to explain why there has been no meaningful progress toward a negotiated settlement to end the war despite more than a year of US-led efforts. While US President Donald Trump has at times approached the peace process as a geopolitical real estate deal, it should by now be obvious that Putin is not fighting for additional territory in Ukraine and seeks to erase Ukrainian statehood altogether.
Russian attempts to smear Ukrainians as “Nazis” are not new and can be traced directly back to the Kremlin’s World War II propaganda depicting Ukrainian anti-Soviet fighters as fascists. This trend continued throughout the Cold War period and became deeply embedded in the Russian public consciousness, with the “Nazi” slur routinely applied to anyone advocating for a separate Ukrainian state or opposing the comprehensive russification that took place in Ukraine under Soviet rule.
